How to add "Reasons Why" to the Decline action of a Approval Workflow
I am working on a an extensive approval workflow with numerous steps and approvers. I am running into a challenge with getting the reasons why someone is declining a request to be part of the automation. Is there a way to allow for the user to input comments to support their reasoning for hitting "Decline"?
Answers
-
Hi Jed,
The approvers can add a comment to the comment section in the approval's bottom. Another way if you need to add other information in other cells you can have automation send an update request after something is declined.
Would that work?
Have a fantastic day!
Best,
Andrée Starå
Workflow Consultant @ Get Done Consulting
SMARTSHEET EXPERT CONSULTANT & PARTNER
Andrée Starå | Workflow Consultant / CEO @ WORK BOLD
W: www.workbold.com | E:andree@workbold.com | P: +46 (0) - 72 - 510 99 35
Feel free to contact me for help with Smartsheet, integrations, general workflow advice, or anything else.
-
I am not seeing the "Comment Section" that you are speaking of. Please advise how i can make that visible.
-
I have the Update Request option enabled right now, however it creates a clunky experience for the user who will be completing this task.
-
On the action step in the automation > click on the hamburger menu on the upper right side (three dots) > Advanced options > Add the A comment field in the Column visibility section.
Did it work?
Best,
Andrée
SMARTSHEET EXPERT CONSULTANT & PARTNER
Andrée Starå | Workflow Consultant / CEO @ WORK BOLD
W: www.workbold.com | E:andree@workbold.com | P: +46 (0) - 72 - 510 99 35
Feel free to contact me for help with Smartsheet, integrations, general workflow advice, or anything else.
-
Perfect. That works excellent!
-
Excellent, this is working now.
-
Excellent!
Happy to help!
Best,
Andrée
SMARTSHEET EXPERT CONSULTANT & PARTNER
Andrée Starå | Workflow Consultant / CEO @ WORK BOLD
W: www.workbold.com | E:andree@workbold.com | P: +46 (0) - 72 - 510 99 35
Feel free to contact me for help with Smartsheet, integrations, general workflow advice, or anything else.
-
I have "A Comment" field enabled but find the approvers miss making a comment even when declining. Can the comment field be required? If so, how?
-
Hi,
Unfortunately, it's not possible at the moment to have the comment field be required, but it's a great idea!
Please submit an Enhancement Request when you have a moment.
As a workaround, I explored to have an update request sent automatically, but unfortunately, it's not possible to select the comment field as a condition.
Hope that helps!
Have a fantastic weekend!
Best,
Andrée Starå
Workflow Consultant @ Get Done Consulting
SMARTSHEET EXPERT CONSULTANT & PARTNER
Andrée Starå | Workflow Consultant / CEO @ WORK BOLD
W: www.workbold.com | E:andree@workbold.com | P: +46 (0) - 72 - 510 99 35
Feel free to contact me for help with Smartsheet, integrations, general workflow advice, or anything else.
-
Hi Andree,
I'm trying to add the comment box only if declined. How do I do this?See image for how I've configured the approval request.
Thanks!
Kathlene -
Hi Kathlene,
Unfortunately, it's not possible at the moment to only have the comment section shown when it's declined, but it's a great idea!
Please submit an Enhancement Request when you have a moment.
Hope that helps!
Have a fantastic weekend!
Best,
Andrée Starå
Workflow Consultant / CEO @ WORK BOLD
SMARTSHEET EXPERT CONSULTANT & PARTNER
Andrée Starå | Workflow Consultant / CEO @ WORK BOLD
W: www.workbold.com | E:andree@workbold.com | P: +46 (0) - 72 - 510 99 35
Feel free to contact me for help with Smartsheet, integrations, general workflow advice, or anything else.
-
Great that worked for me.
Can the Approver's comments be saved to a column in the Sheet?
I can see the comment it in the Conversation column of the sheet.
Or is there another way for the Approver to update some column within the Approval Request.
-
Excellent!
Happy to help!
Regarding comment saved to a column, the third-party service, Zapier is an excellent option for this scenario. Is that an option for you?
Hope that helps!
SMARTSHEET EXPERT CONSULTANT & PARTNER
Andrée Starå | Workflow Consultant / CEO @ WORK BOLD
W: www.workbold.com | E:andree@workbold.com | P: +46 (0) - 72 - 510 99 35
Feel free to contact me for help with Smartsheet, integrations, general workflow advice, or anything else.
-
Am I missing something? I clicked the hamburger menu for the approval action step...advanced options and the pic attached are the only options I see. I do not see option for comments
-
I am also trying to enable the Comment options but I don't see that option. Can you point out what I'm doing wrong?
Categories
- All Categories
- 14 Welcome to the Community
- Customer Resources
- 64.6K Get Help
- 433 Global Discussions
- 136 Industry Talk
- 465 Announcements
- 4.9K Ideas & Feature Requests
- 143 Brandfolder
- 147 Just for fun
- 63 Community Job Board
- 466 Show & Tell
- 32 Member Spotlight
- 2 SmartStories
- 298 Events
- 36 Webinars
- 7.3K Forum Archives